The Aurangabad Maharashtra Region

The Aurangabad Maharashtra Region is the largest in the state, cutting a swath from the northern border with Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to the southern border with Karnataka. It has a hot and dry climate.

Although the region has the largest number of sugar factories in India, it is still one of the most underdeveloped areas in the state.

The Aurangabad Region is known as the "Jerusalem of Maharashtra" because of its relatively high percentage of Christians (5 percent), but Hinduism is the predominant religion, practiced by 82 percent of the population.

The people are proud of their heritage, and they like to point out that India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote his book, Discovery of India, in Aurangabad while being held prisoner by the British in 1942.